Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems and methods for recovering and displacing fluid from a pipe and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to systems and methods for recovering and displacing fluid from pipe associated with an offshore petroleum well via an interference engagement with the pipe.
History of the Related Art
The discovery, development, and production of petroleum wells that lie underwater, known as offshore petroleum production, has become increasingly significant. Offshore petroleum production allows access to deposits of, for example, oil and gas that might otherwise be unreachable through conventional land-based petroleum production. Offshore petroleum production is considerably more challenging than land-based petroleum production due to harsh environmental conditions. For example, an ocean depth often increases a length of a fluid column associated with an offshore well by several hundred meters. The longer fluid column increases downhole pressures associated with the offshore well and substantially increases a magnitude of energy required to lift produced fluids from an ocean floor to a drilling platform.
During offshore petroleum production, sections of pipe are frequently lost on the ocean floor. Sections of lost pipe are frequently unrecoverable using conventional techniques and, thus, represent a significant loss to a company engaged in offshore exploration. In addition, pipelines and flowlines, for transporting petroleum products may become damaged due to, for example, dragging an anchor of an ocean vessel over the pipeline or flowline. In this situation, sections of damaged or otherwise abandoned pipeline or flowline will need to be recovered. During recovery of damaged or abandoned pipe, flooding of the pipe with water or petroleum products adds considerable weight to the pipe and significantly increases a magnitude of energy required to lift the pipe. Thus, effective displacement of fluid becomes crucial to the recovery of pipe and pipeline components.